The ramblings of a pilgrim through time, space, and life.

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Exercising in life

It is simply amazing how refreshing exercise is. On Saturday I went to play squash with a law school buddy and it changed everything. Sadly, it had been a week or two since any serious exercise beyond climbing the stairs to the 3rd floor of the law library. The stress, the dismal outlook, the ache of inactivity, have all melted away! I feel happier, more excited, and ready to get my beating for finals. We need to get back into the routine of at least weekly squash! I read a news line that the lymph system cannot properly work without movement and activity. I knew this fact, but it dawned on me why exercise feels so good. It is a great cleansing tool, not just through the pores and circulation, but also in removing waste from the system through that system as well.

On a funny note, last Saturday I came in the house to tell Amanda something I found I needed for Christmas. (We struggle to find things I need, and I don’t like frivolous Christmas presents) She came to where I was and I announced that I needed a new pair of gloves. She got this sheepish look on her face. I laughed that it was a good thing that she was already aware of it and a new pair was in the works for Christmas. Then the story came out. She hijacked my fleece winter gloves to send to her brother serving a mission. She thought I did not wear them very often, so felt at liberty to give them away. Apparently, she had mailed them out like the day before. Here I am the next day announcing I wanted a new pair of gloves for Christmas and she thought she had been caught with her hand in the glove drawer. Funny what a guilty conscience will reveal! Looks like I will be getting a pair of work gloves and warm gloves for Christmas (I wore my knitted gloves rather than my fleece gloves last year, so they are quintessentially new).

Finals are upon us starting next Monday! Constitutional Law is a multiple choice, so it should be fairly easy. Good fortune has turned my way for finals. Rumor is that Criminal Procedure will be multiple choice as well, but that is yet to be confirmed. Could I be so lucky? We have a take home final and in-class multiple choice for Legal Profession. Law School is going soft! Gone are the days of actually requiring we understand the information, just be able to pick out the right answer from a list! While I welcome the change this semester, I am disappointed law school is going the easy route of education, which in fact lowers our standards of excellence. The rest of society is doing it, why shouldn’t I expect the same from school? Church is the only place that still requires proper learning, but I fear too many don’t take the learning seriously for the final bar exam! There will not be any multiple choice there, after all, the essay will be written/woven into your life.

On that note, a young man was walking by on the street last night as I rolled the garbage bins out to the curb. He was gregarious and I was happy to talk to him. He offered to play me a song on his guitar. Wow, talk about carnal, sensual, and devilish! As I got to know him more, I realized he was an 18 year old who had nothing in his life but his own pleasure. Drugs, sex, music, and nothing more. He attempted to justify all of it to me, but I told him I flat out did not agree. Amanda hearing the song became alarmed at the company I was keeping and whether I would be safe. My impression was that I felt so sorry for the kid in that his chances of making anything of his life were next to nothing. He could change his course, but his habits and ambitions seemed to be such that he would die young with little achieved. His background with the LDS people led him to reveal all his sins and corruptness to me. I wanted to hug him and take him in and help him become a better person. On the other hand, I wanted to send him on his way because he is too far lost, destroyed. Then there was that fear that lingered that this is the type of person, who like Gadianton, would rob me, his brother, to maintain his lifestyle of no responsibility. From the old Faust motif, I think the person who scares me more is not the one who knowingly trades his soul and then cannot escape later. It is the one who is born or raised in such a way that he never had his soul to give, but is enchained is such destructive habits and behaviours. It made me all the more appreciative of my good parents, who taught me responsibility, diligence, work, and love. Just that in of itself has given me a jump on life this boy never had. Not that it is unable to be overcome, but the lack of responsibility, coupled with addictions to drugs and sex, makes for a near impossible challenge. Then again, shame on me for consigning him to hopelessness, and fearing the loss of my possessions. What is to be done? I have not a clue. I cannot save him. I am not in my life to a point I can help him. He did ask for a copy of the scriptures, which I gladly shared, and got his number for the missionaries. I just don’t know what to do with this experience. Like the mission, it is one of those you set aside and ponder about for years, wondering what more you could have done, what you should have done, or what should not have been done. Who knew taking out the rubbish would yield such a result?